Posted
by
timothyon Saturday February 23, 2013 @07:20AM
from the thanks-for-the-tablet-sirs dept.

At last year's RSA security conference, we ran into the Pwnie Plug. The company has just come out with a new take on the same basic idea of pen-testing devices based on commodity hardware. Reader puddingebola writes with an excerpt from Wired: "The folks at security tools company Pwnie Express have built a tablet that can bash the heck out of corporate networks. Called the Pwn Pad, it's a full-fledged hacking toolkit built atop Google's Android operating system. Some important hacking tools have already been ported to Android, but Pwnie Express says that they've added some new ones. Most importantly, this is the first time that they've been able to get popular wireless hacking tools like Aircrack-ng and Kismet to work on an Android device." Pwnie Express
will be back at RSA and so will Slashdot, so there's a good chance we'll get a close-up look at the new device, which runs about $800.

The submission quotes from the wired article, specifically the first and third paragraphs. It's not kosher to delete words from direct quotes just because they're "hype", and might even be improper in this case (because the phrasing comes from the wired article and conveys how the writer of the article feels about the device, which gives important information for the reader). Of course, that doesn't mean a clever editor could jump in anyways with ellipsis and such, but ellipsis are ugly and in this case the

This product ships with Android OS 4.2 and Ubuntu 12.04 to run the full range of tools.

While the specs have not been released, I suspect that the Android ships with a mainline kernel instead of Google's Linux Kernel for Android to include glibc, full Wi-Fi support and all GNU libraries. Also, su, a complete different repo/store and stripped of everything Google.

Go on fanboys, mod me down for being right, I own one and have had to return it once thanks to faulty hardware and wait months for them to fix 4.2 to deal with Bluetooth even remotely stably and for it to bring up the start screen icons in less than ten seconds. Before anyone starts spouting the fanboy line I should not have to root it, mod it or reflash it to make the damn thing work reasonably.

A lot of people are probably going to come on here and talk about how you can just root your standard Android tablet and then set it up to work the same way.Frankly, I think that's a lot of work. Possibly more than $800 worth of work at standard IT wages. I think every corporate IT department should invest in one of these, it would seriously improve network security on the whole.

Form Factor: Easily concealable and can be powered via USB. Easily turn off screen when someone is shoulder surfing

Connectivity: High Speed Mobile Data and superior network management. Ever since BT moved away from SLAX, falling back to WiFi when 3g drops has become unreliable. Multiband Radio makes it more likely to get a signal in a high security building

OS: BT5 for ARM is still not the best. Many tools are buggy and won't even run on a range of devices. Android is attracting quite a few developers meaning we are likely to see new tools on Android before BackTrack, Ubuntu or Debian Repositories. Making from source isn't viable when you are often working against the clock. BT5, being Ubuntu based, is a full desktop environment and it takes a lot of work to trim the fat. If you are talking about BT5 on an x86 laptop then the next point is amplified

Battery: Battery Life is likely much better on the Nexus than a cheap laptop. For reconnaissance, one may need to keep the device powered for hours or even days. Many cafes and bars will offer charging stations. Finding a power point on the other hand can be challenging, especially if one is trying to keep a low profile

Support: While the community-driven support for BT5 (and linux in general) is great, it is unlikely they can offer support for the particular device you are on (in a timely manner at least). Got an issue with this device, check the forums or get Live Chat Support

Crunching: Modern ARM SOC's have great number crunching ability, especially those found on mobile devices as there is a focus on graphics ability and not on economy

All my pentesting is done from either an x86 desktop (in a vehicle) or my Galaxy SIII. I find that laptops continually under-perform and have too many trade-offs. I only use them when the conditions require that I must.

I use my desktop for preparation, execution and monitoring while the mobile device is normally taped under someone's desk, left charging at the lobby cafe or simply in lost property depending on the assignment

I prefer security and IT to be unaware that the audit will be performed, as they would be in a malicious attack.

A lot of people are probably going to come on here and talk about how you can just root your standard Android tablet and then set it up to work the same way.

Rooting is inadequate for anything other than basic sniffing and WEP-cracking.

On these devices, the bastardized Wi-Fi drivers are compiled into the kernel which is stored in ROM. In order to do any kind of packet injection, deauth attack or to use monitor mode, a custom kernel hence a custom ROM will be required. For those with a locked bootloader, that will be yet another step.

The king of mobile pentesting is the n900. Aircrack-ng has been working for ages, even with packet injection if you can find the patched drivers. Metasploit also runs as do tools like dsniff and ettercap